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The activities described below are found throughout the program. Specific instructions are provided for each activity for the first three or four units, and then only abbreviated instructions are provided throughout the remainder of the program. By the third or fourth unit, the teacher should be able to do the activity without the detailed instructions. The detailed instructions can serve as a reference for substitute teachers for example. Activities are presented in the same order within each unit. For example, each unit starts off with the Keyword Card Review, followed by the Picture Cards activity. Each activity is presented in the same manner each and every time. Only the target sound will differ from one unit to the next. Teachers know exactly what to teach and how to teach it at each and every lesson. This will yield consistent delivery of the program amongst teachers and amongst schools.
Keyword Card Review
Each Unit of instruction starts with a review of the previous Unit’s Keyword Cards. Keyword cards are used to help children make an association of a written letter to its sound by referring to a commonly used word that contains that sound at the beginning of the word.
Dolch Word Cards
This is followed by the review and introduction of a new word from the Dolch list.
Picture Cards
Picture Cards containing the new sound at the beginning of the word are presented one by one to the children.
Word List
Teachers orally read a list of words aloud that contain the Unit’s target sound at the beginning, middle or end of the word. Students must identify the letter sound that is common to each word. A variation of this activity is presented later in the program where students are presented a list of words where one of the words has a different sound either in the initial or final position of the word. They must identify the word that starts or ends with the different sound. At this stage, teachers are raising their student’s awareness of particular sounds, and improving their ability to discriminate amongst sounds, specifically those that relate to letters of the alphabet.
New Keyword Card
A Keyword Card is used to anchor a letter sound to a particular word so that students can make reference to that word when trygin to remember the sound of a particular letter. A Keyword Card also has a picture on it that is associated with that word for the visual learner, and the visual representation or the letter associated with that sound is written on the card. Skywriting the letter as the card is read complements the visual and auditory senses, adding a third dimension, and increasing retention of the letter and sound association.
Pick out the Word
Students are presented with a list of words, all of which start with a different sound. The teacher instructs the children to idenfity the word that starts with a specific sound.
Pick out the Sound
The teacher pronounces a target letter sound then orally presents a list of six letter sounds. Students are instructed to identify the target sound from amongst this list of sounds by raising their hand when they hear it.
Word Building
This activity has two parts to it. Both focus on blending letter sounds together to form three of four letter one syllable words. This activity is designed to teach students to decode words letter by letter, ultimately helping them to read, and to spell.
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